How We Got Started

I was born and raised a little north of Cincinnati. As a kid I loved the Big Red Machine teams of the 1970's and was really into collecting baseball cards. In the mid 1980's, sports cards started getting publicity as an investment. I got into the card business and began setting up at local card shows. In 1991 I decided to open a booth at Trader's World Flea Market in Monroe, Ohio. I had more room than I needed for my cards so I expanded into pennants, posters, flags, and sundae helmets.

The helmets were made by The Sports Products Company and easy to get back then. They were made in northern Ohio and the order requirements were very small. In the late 1990's the sundae helmets license moved to a larger company that took production to China. Suddenly, the helmets were difficult to get and the order requirements were huge. Around 2000, I starting selling the helmets on ebay and was contacted by several ice cream shops and Italian ice sellers looking for helmets. It took longer than it should have for me to realize that I needed a website. In 2008 I launched www.icecreamsundaehelmets.com.

Obviously, you sell a product to make money, but I really enjoy selling sundae helmets because I like them. The combination of baseball, ice cream, and childhood makes me smile. I also like being a small part of the customers big events. My sundae helmets have been used at birthday parties, graduation parties, Bar Mitzvahs, showers, and weddings.

You really never know who might place an order. One very memorable order was from ESPN. Being a big sports fan, I had to call to see what they were using the helmets for. They were using them in the cafeteria to celebrate the start of the baseball season. I guess I can claim that I am the official supplier of sundae helmets to ESPN.